Someday, a director will make a worthwhile film based on the extraordinary work of the international relief organization Doctors Without Borders, whose volunteer physicians risk their lives to treat refugees in war-ravaged countries. Until then, we're stuck with Beyond Borders (2003), a wildly uneven and utterly contrived love story from that proficient hack Martin Campbell (The Mask of Zorro), who seems more comfortable blowing things up than staging the film's more intimate moments. Although a few scenes are undeniably wrenching, Beyond Borders tries to be both a sweeping romance and a gritty depiction of the world's refugee crisis and misses on both counts. There's also something patently offensive about using the tragic plight of refugees in Ethiopia, Cambodia, and Chechnya as the backdrop for a glossy love story between an American socialite (Angelina Jolie) and a selfless British doctor (Clive Owen). It's not that the filmmakers' hearts are in the wrong place—they clearly take great pains to portray the refugees with dignity—but after sitting through the muddled, cliché-ridden Beyond Borders, you have to wonder this: where were their heads?
Shot on locations ranging from Namibia to Thailand, Beyond Borders opens in 1984 in London. Newlywed Sarah Jordan Bauford (Jolie) and her wealthy British husband Henry (Linus Roache) are attending an international charity function when Dr. Nick Callahan (Owen) crashes the party with a young Ethiopian famine victim in tow. An outspoken advocate for international refugees, Nick berates the society crowd for turning a blind eye to the nightmarish conditions in Ethiopia. His impassioned speech strikes a chord with Sarah, who leaves her privileged life to volunteer in Nick's Ethiopian relief camp. Ill prepared for the harsh reality of camp life, Sarah is further thrown by Nick's dismissive attitude towards her. In his eyes, she's just another do-gooder dilettante assuaging her conscience. Sarah soon proves him wrong, however, and their frosty relationship thaws considerably. It's only a matter of time (five years, to be precise) before they embark on a passionate, all-consuming love affair while aiding the victims of the brutal Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. But although Nick loves Sarah, he can't bear the thought of her being in harm's way and bids her a teary farewell. Another five years will pass before the lovers reunite, this time in the frozen wastes of Chechnya.

Occasionally, Beyond Borders rises above the soap opera trappings of its central love story to depict the refugee crisis in unflinching, heartbreaking detail. And in one gripping scene, Owen eloquently reveals the profound loss and regret beneath Nick's abrasive façade. His commanding performance hints at what Beyond Borders could have been if the filmmakers had resisted the urge to turn the film into a soppy, unconvincing romance. It's also hard to summon much sympathy or interest in the lovers when Sarah regularly leaves her young children to aid Nick in the world's most dangerous places (I guess she never heard that charity begins at home). That said, Jolie generates zero chemistry with Owen (Croupier) and spends most of Beyond Borders looking either stricken or teary-eyed (maybe she was reviewing the poor grosses for Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life between takes). Normally a firebrand (see Gia, Jolie is subdued, almost bland opposite the charismatic Owen, whose other credits include Gosford Park (2001) and The Bourne Identity (2002).

A poor man's version of a David Lean-style romantic epic, Beyond Borders has reportedly been in development for years. Perhaps it needed to stay there a little longer.